


Take a Picture, It'll Last Longer

by nononokey



Series: Too Much to Ask [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Awkward Relationships, F/M, Gen, Seifer has eyeliner, Selphie has a special nickname for Seifer, at least in retrospect, hungover photo shoots are so much fun, no one else gets to use it or else, secret romance, the old gang together again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 13:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12683151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nononokey/pseuds/nononokey
Summary: The gang have had their official ID photos taken. Unfortunately that took place right after Seifer's alcohol-filled graduation party. The results inspire a lot of conversation and a mystery-solving quest (at least in Selphie's mind). A lighthearted moment spent with friends and something-more-than-friends.Rated Mature for sexual talk and a few F words, courtesy of our eloquent Knight.





	Take a Picture, It'll Last Longer

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place a few months after the game's end.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, the setting or anything relating to FF8. I wish I did! We'd have half a dozen sequels and prequels by now and a remastered original game, with all the cut stuff added back in! But no. Not mine.

”They’re here! THEY’RE HERE!!!”

Anyone blocking Selphie’s way by accident was sure to be bowled over, so people paid special attention to steer clear of her path and pulled their friends back as well as the short brunette dashed through the Quad, clutching her precious cargo close.

The gang, or most of it, anyway, was sitting at the far end of the Quad, chilling out on their makeshift picnic area. Irvine lifted his head expectantly at the first sound of Selphie’s loud screech, like he always did these days, affection radiating off of him, but so did Zell and Rinoa this time. Squall alone stubbornly stared at the blanket, only flicking his eyes towards the approaching girl when she was nearly there.

“They’re finally HERE!!!” she announced, trilling, as she slid the last few feet and flopped down on the blanket like a particularly graceful, yellow-clad minuscule Oilboyle.

“So we heard”, Irvine acknowledged amiably.

“Ooh!” Rinoa giggled and clapped her hands. She was rewarded by a wide grin from the messenger girl.

“Booyaka!” Selphie slammed a handful of photographs down for everyone to see. There was instantly a scramble for them as everyone wanted to find their own; they had waited weeks for this. Even Squall deigned to shake off his aloofness enough to push the photos around with his fingers.

“Aww, Squall, babe!” giggled Rinoa again, trying to sound sympathetic but only managing to barely exclaim her words before dissolving into silent laughter against his shoulder. She held up his brand-new headshot photo, showing it around to everyone. The effect the photo had on Zell, Irvine and Selphie was similar to hers; the boys chuckled and shook their heads in amusement, while Selphie squealed with mock dismay and nervous laughter.

“... Give me that.” Squall snatched the photo to himself, annoyed by his friends’ reactions, but he had to stifle a tiny grimace as he saw his grumpy face glare back. He looked like a small boy trying to exude toughness, not the youngest Commander in the history of Gardens and the Hero of the Second Sorceress War. “… Ugh, okay.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s going anywhere official”, Irvine started helpfully, but was cut off by Rinoa and Selphie squealing in unison:

“Only your ID card and the brochure!” There were tears in their eyes from laughing so hard, and Rinoa’s shaking shoulders made even Squall quake.

“… Whatever”, Squall muttered and shuffled the pile of photographs to find someone else they could all laugh at. Zell’s photo looked promising. He had been going for a roguish grin with a raised brow, but had succeeded in mostly looking slightly deranged and like someone one definitely wouldn’t want to meet alone.

“Hey, now! I had a MASSIVE hangover… To be honest, I may still be drunk in the photo”, the blond martial artist exclaimed, hoisting his bare fists up defensively. If anyone wanted a piece of him, they were sure to get it…! “I think I look nice! Look at my suave smile. HELLO, LADIES…!” He waggled his eyebrows at the girls, who dissolved into another, much louder fit of giggles. Apparently taking that as a blushing sign of his overbearingly good looks and charm, he relaxed and picked up Irvine’s photo.

They all studied the photo quietly, not finding anything at fault with it. Irvine looked slightly tired, but at ease in it, his good-looking features settled into a casual smile as his eyes gazed directly at anyone holding the photo. Finally Selphie spoke up, sharp determination in her voice, “I wish you’d left the hat off, Irvy! It shadows your handsome face!”

The cowboy snorted. “Yeah, right, after the gunk I found in my pretty locks right before the shoot! I still don’t really know what it was...”

“Oh, that! That was just Blobra--” Selphie started, but Rinoa cut in once again, this time hastily and with a wide, forced smile on her face as she spoke very loudly.

“I love the earrings, Irvine! Galbadian design, right?”

Irvine nodded amiably again, even as he gave Selphie A Look. “We’ll get back to the topic of messing with a man’s hair later, Sefie...” Somehow his soft tone of voice and mellow country accent made the threat all that much more frightening. Selphie visibly swallowed before grinning from ear to ear again.

“All water under the bridge! Who’s next on our top model selection panel? Oh, Angelo got her own photo! LOOK, EVERYONE! It’s Rinoa’s Angelo!”

Like they’d needed any reminding of who the lovable fluff ball in the photo was. Rinoa beamed with motherly pride as everyone ooh’ed and aah’ed over Angelo’s sleek, combed fur and majestic poise. Even Squall smiled at her picture. The dog in question herself was currently roaming around the Quad, never leaving their sight but wagging her entire rump for any passing student or faculty member who so much as looked at her. She was far too busy being petted to join the boring picnic with no food present.

“Like doggy daughter, like mother. LOOK AT RINOA!” Selphie’s voice probably carried all the way out to the other side of the Garden. Angelo looked up from her current place of adoration but, seeing nothing wrong with her human mama, laid back down for some belly rubs.

The young sorceress’s photo was plucked up and passed around the fake-picnic group, eliciting approving sighs from everyone. Well, everyone but Squall, who just stared at the photo with a violent blush creeping up his face. Rinoa found that highly complimentary, judging by the rosy colour that appeared on her cheeks. Zell nudged Irvine and made a quiet “ehh!” noise.

“Oh, Rinny! You look gorgeous! So pretty and official. No one’s gonna give you any crap for anything!” Selphie was saying, her green eyes wide open as though she was trying to suck the photo into her brain through them.

“They’d better not”, agreed Rinoa. To emphasise her words, she smiled mischievously and tapped a photo of Selphie with one glowing fingertip. Instantly the image changed into a caricature, complete with crudely-drawn moustache, missing teeth and devil horns.

“HEY!” yelled Selphie. “What did I do to you?!”

“Not to me, to Irvine. Consider that a round-about payback”, Rinoa snickered.

Irvine snorted again and gave her a high-five before backing up Selphie’s whiny “Change it baaaaaack!”, apparently satisfied with the revenge for now. Rinoa smiled and tapped the picture in question again, and all the ink seemed to flow right back into her finger, leaving Selphie’s portrait untouched once more.

“That’s SO COOL!” Zell said. “How do you do that? Like, what spell?”

Even Selphie gave in to her curiosity after glancing at her photo one more time. Was it just her or did she really have just the tiniest bit of mania in her eyes and smile, like she was about to pounce at the camera with festival plans…? Ohh, that was probably Rinoa’s doing! “Ooh, can we learn to do that too?”

Rinoa shrugged, leaning a little into Squall, suddenly abashed at her magic powers being the centre of attention. “I’m not… sure. I just… sort of think about what I want to happen, and it kind of does, on its own. It’s pretty cool, yeah, but also scary not to know how it happens. I’m looking into it more. But Quisty said that the more familiar I am with my powers, the easier it is to control them, so I’ve been practising with stuff like that.” The others nodded in chorus, agreeing.

“Speaking of Quisty, look at her!” Selphie lifted up the blonde’s photo. “Sooo serious!”

Squall shrugged, not finding anything wrong with seriousness, which in turn made the others snicker again at his predictable response. Zell grabbed Quistis’s photo and squinted at it. “I told her to smile a little, like you two--” He gestured to Rinoa and Selphie, who both beamed back. “--but nooo, she has to be all Intructor-y, even after getting the boot. She doesn’t owe the Garden shit, not after--”

Selphie let out a shrieking noise, but it wasn’t directed at Zell’s disapproval or Quistis’s too-serious face. She picked up another blond headshot. “Quisty may be a bit serious, but look at this grump!!!”

Seifer’s photo made its round around the group. The girls giggled again, Irvine and Zell let out low whistles of astonished impressions, and Squall gave himself a tiny facepalm. At least he hadn’t won Mr Grumpy-Face of the Year, after all.

“Given how much he drank at his graduation party the night before”, mused Irvine, “I’m surprised he’s even awake in the photo. He said he had to be dragged out of bed. No wonder he looks like he wants to kill someone.”

“It was a damn good party”, Zell sighed. The girls exchanged a wide-eyed look: alcohol had FLOWED, and heads had HURT the following morning, under the camera’s bright flashes. Seifer had finally made it to SeeD, and he had thrown the party of the decade to celebrate it. Unfortunately, the ID photo shoot had been scheduled for the next morning and neither one would budge a day. They could all still hear Seifer’s boastful “We’ll manage! A little alcohol never killed anyone! … Well, it did, but not tonight!” ...

They had all been more or less drunk, even Squall and Quistis toeing the line between tipsy and drunk, and very much hungover when the photos were taken. Not even Rinoa’s curative spells had eased the suffering enough, but as top-performing SeeDs used to less than ideal circumstances, they’d done their best not to LOOK half as bad as they felt. Seifer’s angry scowling at the camera flash betrayed perhaps the most of their actual state.

“Waaaaait...” Zell squinted at Seifer’s face, bringing it closer to his own. To the others, he looked quite a lot like someone who’s terrified of spiders, yet staring at photographs of eight-legged creatures with keen interest. “Is he… Nooo! He’s still wearing the eyeliner!”

“WHAT!” the girls squealed as one, snatching the photo from Zell. “He IS!”

Everyone crowded around Selphie to look again. “He must’ve missed it when he was cleaning his face”, Irvine stated the obvious.

Graduating as SeeD was a big deal for anyone; to have made it alive through the rigorous training and the field exams, which quite literally could kill you, and into the world’s most elite mercenary company was an enormous cause for celebration, not the least because real let-down-your-hair-and-get-drunk-as-a-Funguar parties in the mercenary killer business were few and far in between. For Seifer, it had been all that and then some. After his brief but notorious stint as the Sorceress’s Knight, he’d crawled back to the Garden with his lapdog tail between his legs. Everyone had feigned surprise, but hadn’t really been surprised at all, when Commander Squall had taken him back in and thrown him right back into the SeeD training track. The official reasoning was something about second chances and Seifer’s detailed knowledge of Sorceresses and various other interesting warfare things that could be useful, but it wasn’t hard to guess that all of the Orphanage Gang (including honorary member Rinoa) had simply wanted him back home, no matter what had passed between them during Ultimecia’s short but cruel reign.

At some point during the roaringly drunken evening of revels, Seifer had of course taken upon himself to boast how he’d aced the final field exam. Coincidentally – NOT – it had been a mission to assassinate a couple of junior sorceresses meddling too much with Forbidden spells and mutilating and torturing the villagers of their hometown. He had been extraordinarily proud of how well he’d done in the exam and with the sorceresses, so Rinoa and Selphie had got it into their addled heads to play dress-up. Naturally, the former Knight had been “promoted” to Sorceress, complete with a flowing robe and colourful make-up. It appeared that in his hangover and graduation joy, Seifer had missed some of it when washing his face for the photo shoot.

“He made a fine Sorceress, you know”, Rinoa giggled, not even trying to hide her mirth. “But it was kind of mean to him to make him have his field exam against more of them, Squall...”

The Commander sighed, showing his young age and tiredness as he replied, sounding like this was far from the first time he’d had to defend his choices. “We chose it specifically to make sure he doesn’t flake out when he’s up against them on a real mission after graduating.” He saw Zell open his mouth to ask a stupid question and hurried to answer it. “But he passed. We were all at his party, Zell! I personally signed his graduation report. I know you were all worried after hearing the mission details… Especially Quistis. She gave me a very loud, strict lecture about it. But yeah, Seifer passed. I guess he owes thanks to the private tutoring lessons Quistis gave him. She’s probably the best teacher for him, in any case – if anyone, she can bang some sense into his thick head. He actually passed the test with the highest marks in his field exam group. There were slight… Okay, not so slight overkills with the sorceress assassinations, but since that was the mission...” He looked over at Rinoa, guilt shading his face a pinkish hue again.

She just smiled and shook her head softly, as if to tell him not to worry. She understood. The witches hadn’t been like her. She would never be like them. Her friends would never have to be sent against her. And if they did… She had faith in them. Seifer especially; having been through what he had, he’d never let anyone suffer like that again as long as he could swing a gunblade.

Speaking of the devil… Seifer’s shadow loomed above their heads as he glared down at them. Undeterred by his sour expression, Selphie grinned up at him. “SEIFIE! Where’ve you been?” She didn’t give him a chance to respond as she continued, “The photos are here at last! LOOK!”

Seifer sat down as well, but didn’t bother perusing the photographs; he just smirked when he saw they were looking at his at the moment.

Evidently this nettled Zell, who quipped, “We were just admiring your eyeliner, SEIFIE…!”

Seifer rolled his eyes and snarled at Zell. “Listen, Chicken-Wuss! Messenger Girl’s the only one who gets to call me that. The rest of you, I will take down in a heartbeat.”

“Oh, yeah? I’d like to see you try…!” Zell’s fists came up again.

Seifer eyed them with disdain before rolling his eyes again and turning away with a shake of his head. “Not worth it, Dincht.”

“Don’t you dare!” Rinoa added, a frown on her pretty face to show how displeased with them both she was. “We’re here to have a nice day together and admire everyone’s photos… Eyeliner or no eyeliner”, she couldn’t help but finish with a giggle.

“Hey, I look better than the rest of you combined!” Seifer replied hotly. His bravado was, however, undercut by the frantic way he seized his photo and squinted at it, outrage slowly twisting his face. “Why the fuck didn’t anyone of you say anything when we were taking these?!”

Selphie just giggled loudly, almost falling over if it weren’t for Irvine keeping her upright with his hand on her shoulder. “Aww, Seifie, it suits you!”

“Whatever”, Seifer grumbled, making everyone apart from Squall burst into laughter as well. Both gunbladists glared daggers at them all. “I still look better than all of you!”

“Even better than Quisty? Look at her smoulder!” Selphie managed to choke out between giggles, flaunting the photograph of the former Instructor in front of Seifer’s face. His expression was remarkably like the one in his photograph, but softened inexplicably as he saw Quistis’s sombre face.

“Nah... That’s her ‘your essay is now three weeks overdue and frankly I’m tired of seeing your ass in detention every week’ face.”

“You’d be the one to know that face, yeah…” Zell snorted. His voice took on a shrill, high note, trying to mimic Quistis’s voice. “’Seifer, we really have to stop seeing like this… because I can’t stand seeing your face anymore!’”

Seifer scoffed and crossed his arms in a huff, looking extremely displeased with what he’d heard.

“AAH! I’ve just remembered more stuff from the party!” Selphie squealed. She was staring at Seifer’s face and posture with widening eyes, until there was a white rim all around the green irises. “You were talking with Quisty! In the corner!”

If anyone noticed Seifer’s face pale a little, they didn’t let on. All eyes were now on Selphie, who was clearly relishing the moment.

“You got all touchy-feely with her, like you always do when you get drunk, Seifie…” This remark made Squall, Zell and Irvine all shake their heads, as if to stop a memory of Seifer forcefully ruffling their hair in a mocking manner. Rinoa managed to evade his touches, being Squall’s girl, and Selphie was far too fast and all over the room to be subjected to anything but her own high-five demands. And Quistis could quite literally give one a look that might cut the offending appendage off. But at the party… “You were stroking her cheek and whispering something excitedly in her ear!”

Now Seifer was definitely sweating a little.

Selphie grinned so wickedly everyone leaned back away from her a bit. “I think you were TALKING ABOUT YOUR CRUSH TO HER!”

Everyone blinked, and then in unison turned to look at Seifer, eyes wide and unblinking.

“… What.” He tried very hard to blink, and Selphie laughed joyfully.

“You sooooo were! You were so eager and smiley and I totally saw hearts in your eyes! And she shook her head and tried to wiggle away and then you looked grumpy, ‘cause she wouldn’t let you tell her about your mystery woman!”

This time Seifer did blink, several times, rapidly. A slow grin appeared on his face. “Uhuh? You heard us?”

“Nooo, but it was pretty obvious, wasn’t it? I mean, what else could it have been?” Thankfully she didn’t pause long enough for anyone to come up with more plausible explanations for why Seifer had practically rubbed himself onto Quistis, forgetting all the people around them as he whispered excited things in her ear that made her blush and get out of breath. Obliviously, Selphie carried on, “You’ve been dropping hints about her for weeks! It’s like you want to talk about her to everyone, and then you got mad that Quisty didn’t want to listen, she’s always giving you this weird frown when you talk about your girl… Or maybe she told you not to make a move at the party!” The perky brunette looked ecstatic at guessing so shrewdly.

Seifer shook his head, half to them and half at himself for having been so careless. He didn’t really give a fuck whether they knew or not, but Quistis had demanded secrecy for now, at least until they figured out what they were and where they were headed, so he did his best to honour her request. She did wield a whip with supreme grace, after all... When he looked up again, they were all looking at him with various intensities of shock on their faces. SHIT, had they guessed? But then Irvine – Hyne bless that soft-spoken, kind young man! - turned back to Selphie with a disbelieving frown.

“Naah, Sefie, that doesn’t sound like our Seifer… Like he’d back down just because Quisty told him it’s not a good idea! He’d only back down if the lady in question said no, not here...”

Which was exactly what had happened, Seifer thought to himself. But he was damned if he was going to tell anyone else that he hadn’t got laid that night at all…! Stupid alcohol and his fucking stupid passing out. He glowered again, at no one in particular.

“Besides, I don’t even remember this corner talk at all”, Rinoa added thoughtfully, with a glance at Seifer.

Selphie wasn’t having any of it. “You guys are all such lightweights! I can’t believe I remember and you don’t when I drank more’n y’all combined!” To her incredible dismay, all her words achieved was that the others exchanged knowing looks and smirks upon noticing how Irvine’s manner of speech had rubbed off on her. “You guys are soooo boring! Here we have a genuine, bona-fide MYSTERY! A ROMANCE!” She shook with pretended anger, green eyes sparkling. “OOH! Ooh, I bet Quisty would-- Where is Quisty, anyway?”

As though just now noticing that one of them was still missing, they all looked around themselves. Seifer snorted; it was as if they expected Quistis to appear from thin air, like a magic trick. “Ta-dah! Here I was, behind this invisible wall all the time!” Although, to be fair, there was no telling what sort of freakish blue magic tricks she’d picked up since the last time they got to witness her monster skills in action. He glanced around a little as well, keeping an eye out for any weirdly wavering air. Nothing. Well, he knew where he’d last seen her...

“Oh”, said Zell, perking up suddenly. “I saw her earlier and she said she had some business to take care of at the Training Center, and she said she’d be here after that!”

“No, that can’t be”, Rinoa said. “I just saw her heading for the dorms not long ago… And she didn’t look like mean business at all. She was… smirking, I think? I don’t think she noticed me.” She looked around the group for confirmation of her confused interpretation of what she’d seen.

Seifer jumped in. “Nah, can’t be, I was hanging around there and I certainly didn’t see any freaky-ass smiling Trepe… She was probably bustin’ some poor junior cadets for cheating on coursework or something.” Too late he realised the improbability of that excuse, what with Quistis no longer being an Instructor nor having an ice rod up her ass all the time. Luckily, something else caught Irvine’s eye as the cowboy looked at him.

“What can you possible have seen, with THAT being sucked on to your neck?” He pointed at Seifer’s blatant hickey. “Bet you had better things to look at than Quistis, eh!”

Seifer bit back a venomous NO and accepted Irvine’s brotherly elbow nudge and overly salacious wink begrudgingly, at the same time pulling on his uniform collar to cover up the tell-tale mark of passion. His annoyed look was, luckily, easily explained to everyone with their own interpretation of his romantic adventures.

“You’ve been very furtive in the past few weeks...” Selphie teased in a sing-song voice. Rinoa joined in with a hum of her own, a gleeful spark in both girls’ eyes. Squall looked like he was ready to storm off from embarrassment; he didn’t care at all about hearing about Seifer’s sex life and it made him uncomfortable that everyone else took such an interest in it. If only Quistis were here, she’d tell them to shut up…!

Seifer was just as done with the topic as Squall was. “Yeah, it’s because I’m fucking someone it’d be embarrassing to be seen with”, he deadpanned.

No one bought it. The girls just giggled once again, egging each other on with the mere presence of support. Zell rolled his eyes and huffed, annoyed at how rudely Seifer was talking about his mysterious girl… and equally annoyed that, massive scar on his mug and all, the older blond was pulling girls just like nothing had ever happened. Meanwhile Zell was having trouble even approaching the cute girl at the library! He was a Hero of the War, for Hyne’s sake! And meanwhile SEIFER ALMASY was banging--

“Guys, leave it, he’ll tell us when he’s ready”, said a soft female voice. All of them turned to look at Quistis, who was smiling down at them. “Or when they break up, which is much more likely to happen. I’ve heard rumours.”

“Fuck you too, Trepe”, Seifer snapped back, smiling at her.

She made a tsk-tsk sound, curiously ambivalent even in its simplicity, as she sat down. She still looked happy, so he knew she hadn’t taken it to heart. Perhaps some other, more suitable part of anatomy…

A flurry of voices commenced almost at once, half of the group eager to fill Quistis in on what she’d missed: the photos, reminiscing Seifer’s party, his mysterious woman… Seifer leaned back and watched her navigate the multiple, interweaving narratives with skill. Quistis was laughing at Selphie’s shrieky explanation of her hypothesis when she finally looked over at him, blue eyes alight with joy. It died almost instantly as she took in the nervous, wary look on his face. She kept her expression, but he could see the puzzled panic in her eyes: WHAT?

He waggled his eyebrows nearly imperceptibly and tapped his calf with a finger, so quietly and subtly that no one else noticed. Squall was the only one not drawn into the loud conversation, but thankfully he kept his eyes locked on Rinoa’s sweet-natured face and didn’t see Seifer’s attempt to communicate something important… but it wasn’t getting through to her…

After a nerve-wracking moment she glanced down at her own feet and he saw her gasp silently in understanding. She was wearing her usual battle-ready dress, but she’d put on one of his practise arm guards as a shin guard in his dimly-lit room. He swore under his breath, knowing he should have cleaned up better and that he was sure to get an earful from her later. The arm guard wasn’t too different from the shin guard – both were black leather, although his was noticeably more pebbled and scarred, and slightly different in shape – which was how she’d mistaken it so easily… Unless he’d literally screwed her brains out of order. He smirked at the idea. Quistis’s eyes didn’t look amused at all, laughing as she still was at Zell’s photo now, but she had the presence of mind to tuck the incriminating leg underneath her, hiding the evidence from view.

“Selph?” Rinoa’s voice cut into the cacophonous chorus. Selphie immediately turned to her, her mouth still open from yelling something about Quisty helping her in finding out who Seifer was secretly dating. “Do you think I could get copies of these photos? I don’t have very many of you guys. My lovely friends… I have some from the party but they’re all blurry and everyone’s stumbling or falling off a chair in them...”

“Or wearing eyeliner!” Zell laughed. He was NOT letting it go. Ever.

Selphie, on the other hand, looked like she’d just scored The End in a battle against Omega Weapon. “YESSS! I love how alike we think! You know what they say about great minds…!” And with that, she took her bag and up-ended it above the picnic blanket. Piles and piles of photographs streamed out of it, gathering into a small mountain of friendship. “Booyaka! Have at it, my ladies and gents!”

There was another scramble for the photos, no one minding at all the fact that there were more than enough for everyone. They dug into the pile, Irvine laughing out loud at the huge wad of Zells he picked up, Rinoa and Selphie and even Quistis picking out the needed photographs with happy smiles on their faces, quietly pointing out something to each other in some of them. Squall focused on Rinoa and Angelo at first, but then with a little smile lighting up his face plucked out the other photos as well. Zell pointedly ignored Seifer’s photo until he’d collected everyone else’s, and then took it with a shrugging sigh. Like it or not, they were in the same circle of friends now. And friends were family to Zell. Hell, to all of them. It was just very unfortunate he’d ended up with such a jerk for big brother.

“Don’t you want any, Seifer?” asked Quistis, looking up at him. She flashed him her pile, his photo on top. “Not even your own face to admire for tonight, in case your date doesn’t show up?”

Squall blushed furiously while the others snickered. He could feel a leg cramp coming on.

“Nah”, Seifer replied, unrattled by her implication. “I got photos of me and my posse around. I miss them, I wish they’d come back soon so I wouldn’t have to see all your stupid faces so often.” At Selphie’s pouting, he amended his words. “Hey, you know I’m only messin’ with you. I don’t need your photos, I see you guys every day. And the Chocobo racing last week was the best thing I’ve done out of bed in a looooong time.” Besides, seeing their faces also meant seeing HER face. He enjoyed seeing it flush with pleasure in the low lighting of one of their rooms, but he was finding he also loved seeing it in the sunlight, laughing with her friends or having an argument about the pros and cons of indoor T-boarding or the best way to skin a T-Rexaur.

The others went back finding and arranging the photos, Quistis flicking him one last meaningful look, and after making sure no one would definitely notice, least of all HER, Seifer slid a photo of Quistis to his side and then with a quick movement slipped it into his uniform jacket breast pocket. If only she didn’t look so cold in it. Why couldn’t she smile in it like she was the sun, like she did when they fooled around in secret? He supposed he ought to feel privileged, to be allowed to bask in her happiness like no one else was…

Selphie looked up at him again sharply, and he quickly arranged his wistful face into a more sneering one. If she had suspicions, she didn’t stop for them, and instead announced to the whole group, “I like the DC posse idea, we should totally take more casual photos of us! We don’t have enough. I want to cover my walls with them!”

This made everyone else share looks with raised eyebrows again. They all knew from first-hand experience that her walls were covered in committee plans, festival ideas and to-do lists of all sorts in all the colours of the rainbow, for “easier to find what I’m looking for”. The disbelief melted away into mushy feelings of importance and love as they realised that they meant enough to Selphie to replace all the committee stuff. In theory at least, if not in practise.

Selphie tutted like a mother Chocobo at their little ‘aww’s and continued, “Ohh, the next big photos will probably be at someone’s wedding!”

Zell noted how Irvine cast an interested but slightly frightened look at Selphie – they were edging into serious territory in their relationship, but hadn’t been dating for all that long – while Selphie was grinning at Rinoa and Squall, who were both sporting matching shades of pink on their faces now and staring cutely at the blanket, their fingers intertwined.

This meant that none of them noticed how Quistis and Seifer simultaneously looked at each other, first impulsively and then, finding the other one looking right back at them, locking their eyes on each other. It was a heated, intrigued look that said “maybe later...” in the best possible way. He quirked his mouth into a crooked smile and she dropped her shining eyes into her lap, a very becoming blush appearing on her cheeks. He liked it.

A staff-summoning bell struck in the distance, breaking them out of their reveries. Squall was needed for official meetings, and some of the others had scheduled things to do as well, so they all got up on their feet, Selphie shuffling the rest of the photographs back into her bag, Quistis helpfully crouching to gather up the blanket, carefully hiding her misclothed leg behind it until everyone was standing up and waving casual byes until the next time they’d meet up – which was more than likely to be some hours later for dinner in the cafeteria.

“Seifer”, Quistis said sharply.

He turned back around to face her, noticing at the same time that everyone else had done the same. Why? She wanted words with him, not the entire gang… Selphie especially was eyeing them both with a dangerously calculative squint.

“You dropped this. You must be more careful with your key cards. Who knows who could come into your room in the middle of the night to do Hyne knows what!” Quistis handed him a key card, which was fine, except he could feel his own in his trouser pocket... He took the offered key and had to suppress a wild grin as he saw the door number etched into the card. It wasn’t his room key, it was a spare key for HERS.

“I also think you REALLY need to read the SeeD manual from page 182 onwards”, Quistis continued sternly. She even put her hands on her hips, like they were back in her classroom. For Hyne’s sake…!

Squall frowned at her. “Page 182 and onward is just laundry issues.”

“Oh, Seifer really needs to learn them by heart.” Quistis shook her head disapprovingly and clucked her tongue. “I’ve been informed that he hasn’t picked up any spare clothing, so he’s essentially walking around in the same set of clothes all the time! I’d very much like to see him out of them soon...!”

“EWW”, echoed Irvine, Zell, Rinoa and Selphie all at once. They even made faces. Seifer wasn’t sure whether they were grimacing at his dirty laundry, or her implied dirty words.

“Oh, come on”, sighed Quistis, “that’s not WHAT I MEANT.” She let her eyes flick over to his for the last words, making sure he understood her hidden message. So the kitty liked to play dirty, in public…? Well, well, well. He felt a rumble of a purr in his chest, but put on a show for the gang.

He rolled his eyes so hard he could almost feel them popping out, and curled his lip at her in humiliated anger. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, why don’t you rinse your panties while you’re at it? Fuck, that steel pole in your rectum must get them dirty.”

Her eyes flashed, but it wasn’t the dangerous I’m-going-to-strangle-you-slowly-with-my-whip look he vaguely remembered from the Sorceress fuck-up time. It was a look of appreciation. “Just READ PAGE 182, will you? Selphie and Zell, knock it off. His isn’t the biggest dick I’ve had to knock down a peg or two.”

Selphie and Zell, both grumbling, lowered their raised fists, but didn’t stop throwing mean looks at Seifer until they’d all dispersed to their separate destinations.

In his dorm room – his very own, private SeeD dorm room! - Seifer went straight for the manual on his desk. He was more than certain he’d last seen it on the bookshelf, collecting dust… He opened it to page 182 and ignored the laundry regulations listed. There was a note tucked in there as well. He pried it open and grinned like a hungry wolf at the words written in Quistis’s sloping, neat hand. It had to be illegal to write such naughty words in such a pristine handwriting… Not that he was complaining. Now he even had an idea of what she’d like for their next rendezvous. He moved about the room, picking up her shin guard from behind a pillow on the bed and stuffing it into a pocket, putting a couple of condoms into another. He checked his reflection in the mirror: looking good as ever, no eyeliner… And he’d have to remember to tell Quistis not to give him more hickeys. At least in places the others could see.

**Author's Note:**

> I have three other Quistis/Seifer works in progress, but then I saw a line about how Seifer's rendered headshot looks like he has eyeliner, and I wanted answers for it. I've also decided that Quistis isn't wearing trousers with her skirt, they're shin guards - my longer fic will feature a more thorough scene where she explains this to a lewdly grinning Seifer.
> 
> I'm not as happy with this as I'd hoped, but eh... I hope someone likes it a little bit, at least (I’m so nervous everyone will hate this...!). Thank you for reading!


End file.
